‘Hourathon’ fundraiser Monday to support MLSD athletics, activities

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake High School students will be on the phones Monday evening raising as much money as they can to help pay for extracurricular activities in the 2024-25 school year. Students will be setting up in the MLHS gym and hitting the phones from 7 to 8 p.m. 

All proceeds from the “Hourathon” will go to Community Athletics and Activities, a nonprofit group working to raise money to fund activities in the MLSD for the coming school year. 

Ryan Carpenter, a CAA board member, said the work is being done by the students. 

“The plan is to organize each student’s contacts prior to the event — they will have a list of who they’re going to contact,” Carpenter said. “(Students) will contact those they’ve chosen by text message and phone, asking for a donation toward the purpose of getting all (MLHS extracurricular programs) up and going at as high a capacity as possible. So it’s kind of a fast and furious event — should be exciting.” 

Online donations will be tracked throughout the hour, so students will know how they’re doing. 

“You’ll actually see those numbers continue to tick up as donations come in,” Carpenter said. 

People who get a call and want to donate are asked to use the link that will be provided, he said. People who want to donate by cash or check can drop it off at the Moses Lake office of Clifton Larson Allen CPA, 1350 South Pioneer Way. Checks should be made out to the CAA.  

It’s the latest in a series of fundraisers and donations following the rejection of an educational programs and operations levy request by district voters in April. Typically, extracurricular activities, from band to softball to football to drama, are funded through the EP&O levy, but with the levy rejection that source dried up. The CAA organization was founded to help plug the gap. The goal, Carpenter said, is to do as much as possible with the money that’s available. 

That means, he said, things probably won’t be the same as in a levy-funded year; some things that usually go with the programs may fall by the wayside for 2024-25.  

“We’ve been talking about, just what does the skeleton (operation) look like? How can we operate a skeleton level to make sure kids are participating?” he said. 

Fundraising organizers have asked the students to get involved in the effort to fund the programs, and students are responding.  

“We need their help. We need those students in the mix,” Carpenter said. “Students are getting more involved. And I love it. I love to see it.”  

He tells the students he talks to that the goal is to limit the impact on students and programs as much as possible, he said, but that there will be an impact. The more MLHS extracurricular participants — or any student — get involved in the fundraising drive, the better, he said. 

“I told (students) people are more willing to donate to your faces than they are to my face,” he said. “And for good reason — it's for them.”  

As of Wednesday, the CAA had raised about $209,800 in slightly more than a month of fundraising. Online donations are posted immediately; cash and check donations are posted about once per week. Carpenter said the donations have been appreciated by the committee, and by the students. 

“We’ve had a huge outpouring of donations,” he said. “What we’ve done in a month is, I think, very telling of the community and support behind these students and their programs. They want to see these things happen.” 

Carpenter said the Hourathon should have the MLHS gym jumping. 

“It’s going to be a fast-paced hour that we’re going to work to gain as much as we can,” he said.  

Donations will be accepted throughout the school year; Carpenter said the committee plans to keep working through June 1, 2025. People can donate any time at the website below or contact CAA members to make check or cash donations.  

Community Athletics and Activities 

CONTACT:
CAABooster.com
Donation site: https://bit.ly/MLCAA
contact@caabooster.com  

MANAGING BOARD:  
Ryan Carpenter, President
Jeremy Huberdeau, Vice President
James Gentzinger, Vice president
Eva Olson, Secretary
Cody Parrish, Treasurer 

    Moses Lake High School softball players pose with their district championship trophy in May. The “Hourathon” fundraiser Monday is designed to help fund Moses Lake School District activities in the wake of the failure of the Educational Programs and Operations levy that typically funds extracurricular activities.
  

    Moses Lake baseball players storm the mound after winning the 2024 district championship. Keeping teams on the field and the court, supporting band, music and the arts, is the goal of a fundraiser next Monday.